Make A Wish
by chocolatecatsconfusion
Summary: Lucy & Erza are two friends desperate to keep Lucy from moving. When a miracle in the form of a quirky mermaid named Juvia washes ashore & offers them a wish in exchange for their help, how can they refuse? Unfortunately, Juvia's problem involves getting a boy to fall in love with her in only 30 days - and he happens to be the most unattainable boy in Hargeon. [Gruvia w NaLu Jerza]
1. Day 1 - Part I

**A/N: So I've had this story planned out for months now but I never got around to starting it. It's heavily based on Aquamarine with elements of The Little Mermaid thrown in, but it will not completely follow the Aquamarine movie storyline.**

 **Enjoy!  
**

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 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, Aquamarine or The Little Mermaid. I do not write for profit._**

* * *

Lucy stormed out of her house for what must've been the fifth time that week. She was absolutely furious with her father. There was just no reasoning with him. Day after day, she would sit down with him at breakfast and attempt to (diplomatically – she might add) negotiate some sort of deal but her attempts were fruitless. At first he had just waved away her concerns; then the next few days consisted of screaming matches between the two. Those went on for a couple more days until eventually today he just completely ignored her altogether.

She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and sent a quick text.

At least she had a certain redhead to rely on in times like this.

* * *

"And then he just ignored me! Like, he wouldn't even look at me. I had made all of these great points and even offered to get a job and everything and he just acted like I didn't exist!"

Lucy fought back angry tears as she told Erza her story. It had been the same routine all week; wake up, shower, get dressed, fight with her father over breakfast and storm off to Erza's to bitch about everything afterwards. She was sick of it.

"This is it isn't it?" Lucy wailed. "He's gonna make me move to Crocus with him and I'll be all alone in that big, stupid house until I die."

Erza frowned, pulling her friend in for a hug. "Now now Lucy, don't talk like that. And don't go giving up just yet." She pulled away and offered the blonde a reassuring smile. "We'll figure something out. We always do. Okay?"

The teary eyed blonde nodded, "Okay."

"Great," Erza said, standing up. "Now let's forget about your father for now and have a great girl's night instead! I'll go make us some popcorn and you grab the sodas!"

Lucy giggled. She was lucky to have a friend like Erza.

* * *

The girls had settled down for the night in Erza's family's rec room. Once upon a time it had been their garage but seeing as no one in her family drove much (and the weather in Hargeon was generally pleasant year-round), her mother and father had worked on turning it into a den where the family could gather and watch movies. It was also the perfect place for Erza to have friends over; with a giant L-shaped couch, pool table, wide screen television, small bathroom, kitchenette, table and chairs for eating and bookshelves full of books and magazines. It had become something of a clubhouse for the two girls over the last few years.

Unfortunately, tonight happened to be the night Hargeon was expecting a rather large storm so there was bound to be some interference.

And sure enough there was… about halfway through their movie the television began to flicker.

Erza sighed, looking out the window. Palm trees were swaying violently in the wind and the torrential downpour made the ocean impossible to see. "Looks like the storm is getting worse; we better get out those flashlights my mom gave us."

Lucy nodded, pulling out the duffel bag Irene had handed to them before they had left the house. The garage wasn't connected to the house so she had made sure the girls were prepared since they wouldn't be able to venture outside during the storm. Lucy pulled two sleeping bags out of the duffel, a large bottled water, an extra blanket and two flashlights.

The blonde handed one of the flashlights to Erza, and just in the nick of time too. As soon as she placed it in her friend's outstretched hand, the power went out.

"Damn." She heard Erza swear somewhere in the darkness. Finally she switched on her flashlight and came back into view. "Do you think we should just go to bed? It's already 9 o'clock anyway."

Lucy turned on her flashlight and nodded, "We may as well."

After unrolling the sleeping bags, the girls settled in and closed their eyes. But with the wind howling outside, waves crashing on the beach and rain pounding on the pavement outside; sleep wasn't going to come easy.

They groaned in unison. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Lucy awoke to the sounds of Erza shuffling around the room. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, willing them to open properly.

"Oh sorry Lucy, did I wake you?"

The blonde blinked and rubbed her eyes again before looking up at her friend. The redhead had thrown on an oversized dark grey sweatshirt over top of her matching yellow tank top and pajama shorts. "No it's fine. What time is it anyway?"

Erza shifted, looked guilty. "About half past 6… in the morning."

"Ugh," Lucy groaned, rubbing her eyes some more. Now that she was up she knew she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep anyway. "What are you doing up at this hour?"

"I had a hard time sleeping with all the noise from the storm last night."

That's when Lucy finally noticed how quiet it was. "Did it stop?"

Erza smiled and waved her over. "Come and see for yourself!"

The blonde reluctantly stood up and trotted over to one of the windows as Erza opened the blinds.

The two girls gaped at the amount of damage the storm had left behind. Two palm trees had fallen over in the yard, half of the ocean seemed to have washed up on the beach and there was garbage and seaweed just about everywhere.

"Wow, it looks like half the ocean came up last night." Lucy said, squinting as the sun began to rise over the horizon. "I'm surprised this place didn't flood."

"My parents put sand bags out before they went to bed last night," Erza explained. "And they made sure the garage and house were storm proof a few years back after we had a pretty severe flooding incident."

"I see. I wonder how the beach club fared in all of this," Lucy said, eyeing her friend. Erza's parents owned and ran the Hargeon Beach Club which happened to be right next door to where they were. It was the most popular spot in Hargeon during the summer months, especially for people their age. They had water sport rentals, a large outdoor pool, a concession stand by the pool, a restaurant with plenty of patio seating and plenty of events to attend all season long.

"Let's go check it out," Erza said, grabbing a pair of flip flops before opening the door. "I can't imagine what the pool must look like. My mom isn't going to be too happy."

Lucy nodded, throwing on her own pair of sandals before following her friend out to the pool.

When they finally reached the beach club (after climbing over several fallen trees, signs and other paraphernalia) they were met with a scene of utter chaos.

Half the signs on the building had fallen off – including most of the pool signs. The pool itself was a complete disaster; half of the ocean had made its way in. Crabs crawled frantically around the pool deck, obviously confused as to how they ended up there and there were several small fish swimming around in the pool, which had turned a nasty greenish-brown colour.

"This is actually better than I was expecting." Erza said, picking up a small fish that was flopping around on the pool deck and tossing it back into the murky water. "At least there wasn't too much damage. I think we'll be able to fix most of this within the week."

Lucy nodded. "That's true. Plus, your parents are pretty resourceful people, I'm sure they'll find a way to make up for the lost business."

Erza smiled, "Yes, that's right. It's too bad about the pool though," She said, wrinkling her nose at the sight and smell of it. "That's probably going to take the longest to clear out."

"Thankfully it's only the start of summer vacation," Lucy said, kneeling down at the edge to get a better look. There were plenty of smaller fish and crabs swimming around in the water below. She wondered briefly if anything bigger got in.

And that's when she saw it, a large shadow moving through the water.

"Uhh Erza? I think there's something in there." Lucy said nervously, fighting the urge to back away so she could get a better look.

Erza snorted. "Well that doesn't surprise me. Half the ocean washed up in there." She walked over to the storage shed next to the pool and began rummaging through a large container.

The blonde sighed and turned back to the water. Only to come face to face with a girl.

Lucy screamed and fell, crawling backwards a foot or so before stopping and staring at the girl before her.

"Lucy? What's wro–" the word died in Erza's mouth as she finally noticed the girl in the pool.

The girl was still in the water, her head tilted ever so slightly to the side as she regarded the pair with dark cerulean eyes. Her hair was a striking shade of blue and fell in long waves past her slender, pale shoulders.

"And who might you be?" Erza finally asked, seeing as her friend was too stunned to say anything at the moment.

The blue haired girl swam a little closer, grabbing onto the edge of the pool. As she did, a large tail with blue and green scales rose from the water before settling below again.

"S-she's a m-m-mermaid." Lucy finally managed, staring at the blue haired girl with a mixture of horror and fascination.

"My name is Juvia," The mermaid finally answered. "And yes, it is as you say. Juvia is a mermaid."

Lucy tore her gaze away from the mermaid to look up at Erza, who was standing there with an equally stunned expression on her face.

"H-how did you get into the pool?" The redhead asked, taking a step towards the strange girl.

The blunette's face twisted into a grimace. "Juvia's father."

"Y-your father threw you into this pool?" Lucy asked, very confused. She decided to leave her question about the third person speech alone for now; there would surely be time for that later.

"No, my father created the storm that washed me up into this pool." The girl said, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance.

"Your father created that storm?!" Lucy could feel her eyes practically bugging out of her head.

"That is quite the feat." Erza said eyeing the girl warily. "How was he able to do that?"

"Well he's the Sea King of course," The mermaid said it like it was the most obvious thing ever. "Well, he's king of the Fiorian Sea; the one that surrounds this particular land mass. There are plenty of other seas with different rulers."

"So that makes you…"

"The princess, yes." The blunette said matter-of-factly.

"A mermaid princess… now I've seen everything." Erza chuckled.

Suddenly voices came from behind them. Erza recognized the voices of her mother and father.

"Oh dear, we have to get her out of here!" Erza said frantically, reaching out to grab the arm of the surprised mermaid. "Look, we need to get you somewhere safe. If those adults see you like this, you could become some kind of science experiment." She placed her arms underneath the mermaids and began to lift. "Lucy, grab the tail!"

The blonde groaned, "Why do I get the slimy tail?"

"Just do it!" Erza hissed, finally pulling the blunette out of the water.

Lucy tried to get a hold of the tail, but it was slippery. It also didn't help that it kept moving whenever she tried to grab it.

"Juvia quit moving your tail!" Lucy chided. The mermaid muttered an apology and Lucy finally managed to grab it. "Where to now Erza?"

The redhead looked around frantically. Her parents – and whoever else they happened to have with them – were almost upon them.

 _Where to, where to, where to…_ Then she was finally hit with an idea. "The storage room next to the pool!"

It was their only option really. The concession was locked up and only Erza's mother had the key. And there was no way they would be able to make it back to her house without being spotted by her parents, seeing as they were coming from that direction.

They shuffled across the pool deck – trying their best not to slip – until they reached the storage room. Thankfully Erza had forgotten to close it so she used her shoulder to push it open and they carried the girl inside.

She found a blue lounge chair with white hibiscus flowers lying open near the back and the two girls lowered the mermaid onto it.

"Erza? Are you in there?" The voice of her mother making her jump.

"Yes mom!" She called back. Then she turned to the blunette, "Stay here for now. We'll try to make sure no one gets in."

Juvia nodded with a shiver.

"Are you cold?" Lucy asked.

The mermaid nodded again.

"Here," Erza said, pulling her sweatshirt over her head and throwing it to the girl. "Put this on, it should hopefully warm you up. We'll be right back."

The two girls slipped out of the shed and closed the door gently.

"What are you two girls doing out here so early?"

They turned to face Erza's mom, Irene, who was currently shoving broken signs into a garbage bag they'd brought over.

"C-couldn't sleep." Lucy answered with a nervous giggle.

Irene nodded in understanding, "That was a pretty brutal storm last night. I had trouble sleeping myself."

"How long do you think we'll be out of commission for?" Erza asked.

"Oh not long at all," Irene said. "We'll probably be closed just for today. That'll give us time to clean up the outside areas and repair some of the signs." She then turned to the pool with a grimace. "The pool will probably take two or three days to clean out properly."

"Makes sense," Erza said. "Will you need a hand?"

"I'll let you know," Her mother smiled. "I just sent messages to some of the lifeguards asking them to stop by this afternoon to help out. Gray, Natsu and Jellal have already responded and I'm sure Sting and Rogue will be more than willing. They've been very helpful in the past."

"And what about the restaurant?" Lucy asked.

"It will remain closed as well today, but I'm sure Mira, Kinana and the others will be more than happy to help with the beach cleanup. They have– Oh, hello!"

Erza and Lucy whipped around to see who Irene was addressing.

It was none other than Juvia, standing just outside the door of the storage room in nothing but Erza's sweatshirt – though thankfully the garment reached mid-thigh on the girl, keeping her decent.

But that wasn't what really shocked the girls… nope; it was the _legs_ she seemed to have magically sprouted in the last five or so minutes.

"Oh Juvia!" Lucy practically squeaked, rushing up to the girl. "There you are!"

Irene turned to her daughter for answers. Erza tried her best to sound and appear calm as she spoke, "Mom, this is Juvia… she is a… well… and–"

"–my cousin!" Lucy cut in. "She was supposed to be staying with me but my father has been so… well…"

"I'm sorry for not telling you this earlier mother," Erza said, turning to her mom. "Lucy's had such a hard time with her father this week and poor Juvia has been caught up in the middle of it, I just thought maybe she could stay with us for a bit until things cool down?"

Irene paused, looking between the three girls, before the look on her face softened. "Yes, I understand. I'm sorry things aren't going well with your father Lucy. Of course Juvia can stay." She smiled at the blunette. "We do have the extra space in the rec room. I'll be sure to set something up for her later tonight after the cleanup."

Erza wrapped her mom in a tight hug, "Thank you! I promise we'll be good."

"I know you will. I never have to worry when it comes to you girls." The woman chuckled. "Most parents would kill to be in my shoes."

Erza smiled then grabbed Juvia by the hand. "Do you mind if I take Juvia back to the house and show her around?"

"Of course, go ahead." Irene waved them off, grabbing her garbage bag to resume her task. "I'll text you later if I need the extra hands today."

The two girls nodded and proceeded to drag the former mermaid back to the house.

* * *

"Okay Juvia, let's get down to business. Why are you here?" Erza questioned, after seating the girl on her bed. "Why would your father just wash you onto the shore like that?"

The girl nervously twiddled her fingers as she glanced between the redhead and the blonde.

"First of all, you must understand; Juvia was in a terrible situation. Her father was about to marry her off to some gross merman who had no love or respect for her. So Juvia refused and got into a terrible argument with her father – that's when the storm started." She added with a frown. "Then, finally, Juvia managed to strike a deal. Father said that if Juvia could make a human boy fall in love with her in thirty days or less, he would break off her engagement and give her legs – permanently."

"Wait, you _want_ legs?" Lucy asked.

The blunette nodded, "More than anything. I've always found the human world fascinating. It's much more interesting than where I'm from."

"But you're a princess there."

"So what?" The mermaid turned her sharp gaze on the blonde. "Money and fame don't bring happiness. All being a princess really means is that I look good for my father's sake and let him pick out a husband for me."

And that's when Lucy saw it. This girl was in the exact same predicament she was in – minus the marriage part – and she wasn't being supportive in the slightest. In fact, she was starting to sound a little bit like her father; something she certainly took no pride in.

"Of course," Lucy said, suddenly feeling ashamed. "I know exactly how you feel actually. My father is very much the same way. He's obsessed with wealth and status; in fact, he cares more about it than he does about me. He's trying to force me to move to a different city with him. I most likely won't get to see my friends again if he succeeds."

Juvia's eyes softened at her words. "Juvia is sorry to hear that Lucy. I hope you can find some way to get through to him."

The blonde sighed, "I hope so too. And I hope you can find love in 30 days… that sounds tricky."

"Indeed," Erza said. "Getting someone to fall in love with you in a month is incredibly difficult."

At that, the mermaid looked utterly dismayed. "Oh please, you must help me then! I can't fail or I'll be forced to marry that horrid merman!"

The two girls exchanged a look before turning back to the blunette. "I dunno Juvia," Lucy said warily. "That's a lot you're asking of us. Plus we have more than enough trouble with our own love lives. I'm not sure how much help we'll be."

Juvia thought for a moment then smiled. "What if I could offer you something in return?"

Both girls raised an eyebrow at that. "What kind of something?" Erza asked.

"A wish," Juvia beamed. "Any wish you could ask for. Except for death or bringing something back to life – we don't grant wishes like that."

Lucy gaped at the girl. "A wish? Are you a mermaid or a genie?"

The blunette looked at her blankly, "What is a genie?"

Erza waved away the question with a head shake, "Nevermind that. So what you're saying is that if we succeed in finding you love, you could stop Lucy's father from taking her away?"

Juvia nodded happily. "Yes, exactly!"

"I could even wish for him to be more understanding and loving father," Lucy said excitedly. "That could fix a multitude of problems we have."

"The world is your oyster." Erza smiled.

"Then it's a deal," Lucy beamed, holding out a hand to the blunette who just stared at it. "You're supposed to shake it, see?" The blonde explained, demonstrating by grabbing the mermaids hand and shaking it slowly.

"Oh I see. You will have to teach Juvia these human customs."

"Yes, and we'll have to do it quickly as well," Erza put in. "Especially if we only have thirty days." She addressed Juvia, "We do have thirty days right? When did you make the deal with your father?"

Juvia nodded, "Yes we have thirty days. Juvia made the deal with him just after midnight so today counts as the first day."

"Good, well first things first: the way you talk. We'll have to fix that." Erza said.

"I was wondering about that. Is that how people speak where you're from?" Lucy questioned.

Juvia shook her head sadly. "No, unfortunately it's just a habit Juvia picked up. Juv– I had a very lonely childhood growing up so it sort of just developed and Ju– _I_ never really bothered to fix it."

"Oh I see, well just try to copy how Erza and I talk and that should help you." Lucy said brightly.

The blunette nodded. "Okay, Ju– I will do my best."

"Next we should have you practice walking." Erza said, getting up from her chair. "You seemed quite wobbly on your feet when you were walking earlier. We'll obviously have to fix that as well."

"Oooo and we have some magazines and dvd's here so you'll know what to talk about when you find a guy you like!" Lucy said, bringing over an armful of both and setting it down on the bed.

Erza gave a nod of approval and turned to the two girls. "Well ladies, we have a few hours until lunch. Let's begin!"

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! The next chapter will be up sometime next week hopefully. I do have other stories to update. If you happen to follow any of my other stories, please know I'm working on them as well and new chapters for them will be up soon.**

 **As always, thanks for reading!**

 ** _Leave a review because that's how I motivate myself to pump out new chapters faster!_**

 **See you next time :)**


	2. Day 1 - Part II

**A/N: The POV in this chapter feels all over the place to me but I just wanted to write it and get it over with so I'm sorry. I'm just so sick of picking at it and editing.**

 **On another note, I'm so excited for the next chapter because all the fun stuff finally starts happening! :D**

* * *

"Okay, let's go over what we've learned one more time." Lucy pulled a magazine out of the frowning blunette's grip and sat down on the bed next to Erza.

"To greet someone formally you…"

"Shake their hand!" Juvia answered quickly, smiling when Erza gave her two thumbs up.

"And when it's a casual greeting?"

"You smile and give a little wave."

"Excellent Juvia," Erza nodded her approval. "And what town do we live in?"

"Hargeon."

"And Hargeon is located in the country of…"

"Fiore."

"What is the capital of Fiore?"

"Crocus."

The questions continued, ranging from geography to technology to basic social cues. Juvia happened to be a fast learner, lucky for them, so she was able to absorb much more than they had anticipated. And while she was still more prone to stumbling around than the average person, her walking was improving quite a bit.

Despite all the progress they'd made, Lucy still couldn't help worrying about how the mermaid would do socializing with people. She was still slipping into third person and spoke much more politely than any person their age did.

Erza seemed to be thinking the same thing. She leaned over to the blonde, whispering, "Perhaps we can tell people she's from a foreign country?" as Juvia recited a list of popular food dishes, pausing to wrinkle her nose whenever a seafood dish came up.

Lucy shrugged, "Well it wouldn't be a total lie."

Erza's phone buzzed from where it sat on the other side of the bed. She crawled over to check the text message that popped up.

"My mother says they have pizza at the beach club." She paused as another message popped up right after the first. "And to change into beach appropriate clothes; we'll be helping with the beach clean-up. It's apparently a lot worse than they thought."

Juvia cocked her head to the side, "Beach appropriate?"

"Ah right, we need to find you something better to wear than my sweatshirt." Erza said. She scurried over to her dresser and rummaged through the first drawer before pausing. "Wait, Lucy… you're Juvia's size aren't you? Can she wear something of yours? I think my clothes may be slightly too big for her."

"Of course!" Lucy smiled at the curious mermaid before opening the very bottom drawer of the dresser.

"You keep your clothes here Lucy? Juvia thought you lived somewhere else?"

"I do… but my dad and I fight _a lot_ ," She grimaced before reaching into the drawer again. "So I've been keeping a lot of my stuff at Erza's these days. That way I don't have to pack a bag every time I need to escape my father."

"Oh I see…" The mermaid looked troubled at the mention of Lucy's father but the blonde figured it was just because it reminded her of her own father back in the sea.

Then she realized something. "Oh god… Erza!" Lucy smacked her hand to her forehead and groaned. The redhead turned to her friend with a questioning look. "She needs underwear! I can't give her mine, that's weird!"

"Oh…" Erza froze in her search for clothes before turning to look at the blunette. "Okay… Well we'll just have to take her shopping tomorrow." She reached into Lucy's drawer and grabbed a lilac coloured swimsuit with a slightly ruffled bottom, tossing it to the startled mermaid. "Juvia, you'll just have to wear a swimsuit under your clothes for now."

Juvia eyed the garment questionably but said nothing, simply nodding. She then placed it on the bed and began to peel off the sweatshirt Erza had given her. She had just managed to put the bottoms on when the two girls turned around and screamed.

"Juvia, what are you doing?!" Lucy shrieked, leaping up from where she sat.

The blunette stared blankly at the two girls as they covered their eyes. "This is how one gets dressed… is it not?" Lucy kept her eyes covered while shaking her head and Erza simply sighed. She couldn't exactly blame Juvia for her naivety; they had yet to tackle the topic of modesty.

"Yes, you're doing it correctly, just like we showed you," said Erza gently, grabbing the top from the blunette and swivelling her around. "Here let me help you get the top on."

As Erza helped her with the top, she looked over at the blonde who still had her eyes covered. "Oh relax Lucy, it's not like you don't have breasts as well." She chided, tying the strap behind Juvia's neck. "She's all covered now anyway."

The blonde uncovered her eyes and glared at her friend with a flushed face. Erza had never been particularly shy when it came to that kind of stuff. "I know that! I just don't wanna perv on poor Juvia."

"Perv?"

As Erza explained what a pervert was to a rather horrified Juvia, Lucy took the opportunity to grab some clothes from her designated drawer in the dresser. She knew going to a beach clean-up meant things were gonna get messy but she couldn't help pulling out a couple of her cuter outfits – a certain pink haired lifeguard was going to be there, and if she was ever going to work up the courage to talk to him, she needed to look her best.

She tossed Juvia's outfit on the bed and marched over to the bathroom to change into her carefully chosen outfit.

"–and that's why you must stay away from men like that." Erza said with a firm nod. "I'll be sure to teach you how to use pepper spray later on." Juvia nodded, looking more than a little frightened after Erza's detailed explanation.

"Oh and Lucy left you an outfit to wear," The redhead grabbed the clothes off the bed and shoved them into the mermaid's arms. "Now show me how you put clothes on. Remember what we taught you?"

Juvia nodded and began to pull the tank top up one of her legs.

"Oh dear… no–okay–" She paused to grab the shirt before she got it any farther up her leg. "Let's go over this again, shall we?"

* * *

Finally dressed, the three girls made their way over to the beach club where a large number of people were gathered.

It seemed like almost everyone employed by Erza's parents had come out to help; the lifeguards, concession workers, waiters and waitresses from the on-site restaurant and even the guys from the rental shop.

It seemed odd that Erza's mom would ask for their help when there were so many people out already; not that they weren't happy to do it, but it didn't make a lot of sense. Plus, the beach looked a whole lot better than it did a few hours ago.

"Are you sure your mom needs us?" Lucy asked, echoing the redhead's thoughts. "It's already looking pretty clean to me."

"Let's go find her." Said Erza, leading the two towards the restaurant patio where most people were gathered. There were a good twenty or so pizza boxes spread out upon the tables and people were digging right in.

Finally Erza spotted her mother just inside the restaurant, where there were less people milling about, talking to the head waitress, Mirajane. The two turned towards the girls with big smiles when they spotted them.

"You girls finally made it!" Irene cheered and then gestured for Juvia to step forward. "Mira this is Lucy's cousin Juvia. She'll be staying with us for a bit. You were looking to add another waitress to your staff, weren't you? I bet Juvia would make a great addition."

Erza and Lucy exchanged nervous looks. While Juvia was making good progress, they weren't so sure about unleashing her on the general public just yet.

"Nice to meet you Juvia," Mira smiled gently at the puzzled looking girl. "I'd love to take you on if you're interested in serving and making some extra money? Do you have any experience working in a restaurant?"

The mention of money piqued the mermaid's interest. Even before she had ventured on land, she knew it was of great importance to humans. If things went her way and she was able to save enough, she would be able to live comfortably in the human world without having to mooch off of Lucy and Erza for all eternity. Suddenly the blunette was filled to the brim with determination.

"Juvia does not have any work experience but she's a fast learner. I'd love to work for you if I could?"

"Eh heh," Lucy chuckled nervously as she saw Irene and Mira's eyebrows shoot up at the third person speech Juvia was using. "Sorry, she's not from around here so she speaks a little… differently."

 _Well, at least half of what she said was first person._ Erza thought with a sigh of relief. It was a small improvement but an improvement all the same.

"Oh no worries." Mira smiled in understanding. "She's such a cutie, I'm sure people will find the way she talks endearing." Then she addressed the mermaid, "That's totally fine Juvia, I'm more than happy to train you. It'll be fun!"

Juvia smiled warmly at the girl, deciding she liked her very much. Humans were so much nicer than merpeople.

"Also, Lucy and Erza," Irene turned on the two girls. "I'm going to need your help waitressing again this summer. Not too much, just on busier days. You can put that money towards your emancipation fund Lucy." She added, winking at the blonde who blushed and nodded. Erza's parents knew all about her rocky relationship with her father, which is why she was so thankful to have them in her life. She had no idea where she'd be without their constant support. She owed them much more than a few waitressing shifts, but she knew they'd never accept any sort of payment. Erza's mom stood by the belief that you always help people in need without expecting anything in return.

"Uh mom, would you mind waiting a week before starting Juvia at the restaurant? We'd like to get her settled in and show her around a bit first."

 _And try to find a guy to fall in love with her._ The redhead flinched at the thought. How were they going to balance work and Juvia's love life?

"Of course," Irene smiled, ruffling her daughter's hair. "Wouldn't want to ruin all your fun. Now go grab some pizza before it's all gone!"

"Um, Irene? What would you like us to help with?" Lucy asked. "Your message said you needed some extra hands."

"Oh right. Well we're going to open up the restaurant in an hour for business so we'll be losing Mira and her staff." She explained, waving to Mira as she excused herself and went back outside with the others. "So if you girls could help the boys with the beach clean-up that would be fantastic. There's still some work to be done on the south end of the beach."

"B-boys?" Lucy questioned feeling very nervous all of the sudden.

"Yes, the lifeguards are down there working – or at least they should be, those boys get distracted so easily." She said with a laugh. "Be sure to talk to Jellal, Erza." Her mother chided, turning on her. "He's such a lovely boy; I don't know why you two never hang out anymore."

Erza's face matched the colour of her hair. "M-mom!" She sputtered, scandalized. "Jellal and I were friends back in _elementary school_ ; just because he moved back into town last year doesn't mean we're going to automatically become friends again. He was gone for years!"

Irene pouted, "But he's so cute!"

Erza groaned and grabbed her two friends by their wrists, dragging them outside. "We're getting pizza!"

Lucy and Juvia giggled as they reached for a box with a few slices of pepperoni pizza still left inside. The redhead turned on them with her fiery gaze. "What's so funny?"

Lucy hid behind Juvia who simply smiled, "Juvia thinks it's nice that Erza has a nice man in her life that her mother likes too. Juvia would kill for that."

Erza blushed furiously, choosing to look towards the ocean instead of at her grinning friends.

She had been very close with Jellal as children but in the sixth grade his father got a new job in Crocus, moving them across the country. With no social media around back then, they had lost touch rather quickly. Then last year, halfway through tenth grade, Jellal had come back – but he seemed less approachable than before. It wasn't that he wasn't the same friendly guy he'd always been; he was just much more handsome and popular than she had expected he would be, joining the soccer team with the other boys and becoming one of the star players. He had made an effort to talk to her on more than one occasion but Erza had always put a stop to it, scared of the strange new feelings brewing inside of her.

It was frustrating for Erza, since she had never been the type to be so easily intimidated; especially by a boy.

Love had a way of changing that.

* * *

At about half past one the girls made their way down the beach towards the group of boys picking up trash and other paraphernalia. It was pretty bad down this end of the beach with plants and shells scattered everywhere. A damaged parking sign could be spotted not far from the group of males as well as a broken lawn chair along with plenty of garbage.

Lucy spotted a head of pink hair among the group and felt her heartrate increase tenfold. Despite knowing this was the perfect opportunity to finally talk to Natsu Dragneel, all she really wanted to do was turn around and run as fast as she could in the opposite direction. She took a deep breath, willing herself to relax and focus on something else, and turned to the blunette. "So Juvia, what do you look for in a guy?"

The mermaid raised a delicate eyebrow at the question. "What do you mean?"

"She means what sort of qualities do you look for," said Erza, trying her best to keep her eyes on the blunette as she felt another familiar gaze lock on her. "Describe your dream boy to us."

"Hmm…" Juvia tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Dream boy…"

"Yo Erza, you here to help?"

All three girls looked up to see the group of boys looking in their direction as they approached. Gray Fullbuster stood at the front of them, waving a hand in greeting.

Lucy and Erza approached the group while Juvia hung back gaping at the boy before her.

 _Him._

In truth, Juvia did have a dream boy. However it had been years since she'd last laid eyes on him.

She had given up years ago after never spotting the boy again. And now here he was; taller than when she'd last seen him and even more handsome; with unkempt black hair and dark cobalt eyes. He wore a lazy grin on his face as he waved the approaching group over – that is, until he caught sight of the blunette; his grin slipping off his face as their eyes met.

Juvia blushed and turned away; no longer able to meet his curious gaze.

"Boys," Erza addressed the group with her usual authoritative tone. "These are my friends Lucy and Juvia. You probably recognize Lucy from school but Juvia is new in town, visiting from… Pergrande." Erza said, listing the first country that popped into her head. "She's Lucy's cousin. They'll be helping us clean the beach today."

"Of course we know who Lucy is, Erza," Gray rolled his eyes before waving to the blonde. "How's it going Lucy?"

She smiled back, waving as well. "Good!"

Lucy didn't know her male classmates all too well, preferring to spend her time in the library with Levy and Erza at school; so it was nice to know someone as popular as Gray at least knew who she was, even if they rarely spoke. It was an added bonus that he happened to be Natsu's best friend.

"Who's Luigi?" Natsu–who had been a few feet away from the group picking up branches–joined the conversation, looking puzzled.

"Her name is _Lucy_ , dumbass." Gray corrected, giving him a sharp smack on the head. "And that's her!" He pointed to the blonde, who flushed head to toe in embarrassment as Natsu's onyx eyes locked on hers for the first time.

"You really go to our school?" Natsu questioned the red faced blonde. "How come I've never seen you before?"

"You _have_ seen her before you moron." Gray answered before Lucy could, looking just about ready to punch the pink haired boy. "She's been in homeroom with us for the last _three years_."

"Really?" Natsu never once removed his gaze from the blonde, making her feel incredibly self-conscious. What was he thinking? Good things? Bad things? Both?

"Huh," he said with a sheepish grin, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm kinda surprised. You'd think I would remember someone like you."

And then he moseyed off looking for more branches to collect; like he hadn't just said eight words that had Lucy's heart beating faster than a hummingbird's wings.

 _You'd think I would remember someone like you._

It was no declaration of love; in fact what he said probably wouldn't excite most girls, but for Lucy it meant something and she would take whatever she could get at this rate–it was Natsu after all.

"Sorry about him," Gray sighed, shaking his head like he was dealing with a naughty kindergartner and not his best friend. "He's great at school and soccer but kinda oblivious with everything else."

Lucy waved away the apology with a smile and a "don't worry about it". She already knew that about Natsu; hell, all the girls in school knew it. It had become the mission of some of the more popular ones to get into Natsu's pants before graduation. Naturally none of them had succeeded so far–much to the blonde's relief. Though she wasn't even sure she should be feeling relief. After all, if the most popular girls in school couldn't snag Natsu, what chance did she have?

Juvia moved to stand beside the blonde who seemed lost in thought at the moment. She could feel Gray's eyes fix on her again and she tried her best to ignore it, instead turning to the first boy she laid eyes on and extending her hand the way Lucy and Erza had taught her.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Juvia." She mentally congratulated herself on speaking correctly.

The boy, who had blue hair a little darker than her own and a red tattoo over his right eye, smiled back, grasping her outstretched hand in his own, "Nice to meet you Juvia, I'm Jellal. How are you liking Hargeon so far?"

"It's such a beautiful town. I wish I could live here all the time." She said wistfully, practically twirling with excitement. "You're very lucky."

Jellal chuckled. "Yes, I definitely missed living here. I was very happy to finally move back last year."

Juvia blinked, finally realizing who she was talking to. She looked over to Erza who was keeping an eye on their conversation while lecturing Natsu and a blonde haired boy about something she couldn't quite understand–fighting perhaps?

So this was Erza's love.

Or should she say dream boy?

She remembered something about crushing in one of Erza's magazines but it sounded more painful than anything.

Whatever the name for it was, he was the one Erza had her heart set on.

The blue haired girl beamed, "Oh so you know Er–"

"Juvia!" Erza appeared suddenly at her side. If looks could kill, the poor mermaid would be ten feet under. "How about you go help Gray pick up the garbage down there?" She spoke through gritted teeth, pointing further down the beach to where the dark haired boy was cleaning up alone.

Juvia attempted to protest but the redhead gave her a sharp shove in his direction. "Go on, he'll appreciate the help."

Erza's cheery tone was so obviously forced; it was unsettling. "O–okay..."

* * *

Juvia made her way down the beach, taking deep breathes in a futile attempt to calm her wildly beating heart. She had seen the recognition in Gray's eyes; there was no mistaking it. And she knew exactly what he'd ask her if he got the chance to talk to her.

She gritted her teeth in frustration, cursing Erza for sending her this way.

Gray didn't seem to notice her troubled expression as she approached, extending a hand to her in greeting.

"Hey, I'm Gray. You're Juvia right?" The blunette took his hand with a nod.

Gray released her hand and seemed to study her for a moment.

"This is going to sound weird," he said. "But have we met before?"

Yes.

"No, I don't think so." Juvia said, the lie leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. She wanted to tell him the truth, more than anything, but it was far too risky at this stage. They barely knew each other and it could end _very_ badly if he didn't take it well. "Juv– I've never been to Hargeon before. It's my first time visiting Lucy."

"Huh, alright," Gray nodded, seeming to accept her answer. "Sorry if that sounded weird, you just look a _lot_ like this girl I met back when I was a kid."

Juvia smiled, praying her face didn't look as warm as it felt, "Oh no. Lucy is the only person I know from Hargeon–and Erza now. I look forward to getting to know everyone here though." She added brightly, hoping to change the topic.

Gray grinned, "Yeah, Erza's mom has a great group of people working here at the beach club. You seem nice; I'm sure you'll be making plenty of new friends this summer." He added before turning back to the garbage bag he had with him, dumping some more trash into it.

Juvia felt a wave of happiness rush through her. He thought she was nice. No boy had ever said something like that to her before. The boys where she came from would make fun of the way she spoke or tease her for having no friends. It was a nice change and she welcomed it.

The two continued to chat as they cleaned up the beach. Juvia accidentally slipped into third person a couple of times but Gray either didn't notice or didn't care, much to her relief.

An hour later they finally finished their work, heading back over to the group. When the blunette spotted Erza and Lucy she bounded up to them like an overexcited Labrador.

"Lucy, Erza," She beamed, grabbing both of their hands and dragging them away from the group to a more secluded spot. "I've found my dream boy. I've decided who I'm going to pick for my mission." The two girls smiled at the news.

"That great Juvia, who is it?" Lucy asked, thrilled to already be making some headway on the first day.

"Gray!"

In an instant their smiles were gone, replaced by looks of horror.

"Oh no, no, Juvia," Lucy shook her head. "Not him, he's just as bad as Natsu!"

The mermaid blinked in confusion, "What's wrong with Natsu?"

"Both him and Gray have the emotional depth of a tide pool," Erza said dryly. "Natsu has never been on a date in his life while Gray has been on a few dates in the past. Though Gray wasn't the one to ask those girls out, nor did he ever commit to a single one of them." She grimaced. "They're both hopeless. Please don't be like Lucy, pick someone else."

"Hey!"

"But I love him!" Juvia cried, grabbing the front of the redhead's shirt in desperation. " _Please_ Erza, I need to have him."

"L–love him?" Erza gaped at the blunette. "Isn't that a bit sudden?"

"Juvia he's never even had a girlfriend before," Lucy said gently, prying the girl off of Erza. "How can you expect a guy like that to fall in love with you within a month?" But when she saw the look on Juvia's face, she knew her mind was already made up.

"Damn," Lucy sighed. "So this it, huh? We're really doing mission impossible?" She groaned, exchanging a wary look with Erza.

"Damn it Juvia, why couldn't you have picked Hibiki?"

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you liked this chapter because it's honestly not my best work in my opinion...  
I promise chapter 3 will be better. I've started on it and it's so much more fun to write than this one lol.  
(Hint: More FT characters will be appearing as the story progresses)**

 **As always, review and let me know what you thought :)**


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